‘Blue Skies’ Play About Life Beyond Loss Put On By Hospice

A play about life beyond loss will be showcased at St Mary’s Hospice this month.

Penned by award-winning playwright, Brian Daniels, ‘Blue Skies’ tells the story of an 18-year-old facing the prospect of losing his mum to terminal lung cancer.

Kyle’s father is no longer on the scene and he lives with his mum and grandfather and faced with his mum dying, there are conversations that the family want and needs to have but these are difficult and the play gives insight into how these might be initiated.

Originally commissioned by Wakefield Hospice, the play has also been performed at St Gemma’s Hospice, Leeds and Keech Hospice, Luton and ’Blue Skies’ now comes to St Mary’s Hospice in Barrow-in-Furness on 9 May.

The play is being shown as part of the Hospice’s ‘Love, Life and Death’ event, for Dying Matters Awareness Week and is a free event open to all members of the community.

Following the performance Hospice staff will be encouraging conversations around this subject in a relaxed and supportive space as well as showcasing the work of St Mary’s Hospice.

Brian Daniels of Pluto Play Productions said:
“I wrote the play to highlight that hospice care isn’t just for older people. Younger people face having to spend their last days being cared for the wonderful carers in places like St. Mary’s.

“I want to encourage conversations around advance care planning, organ donation, living wills, power of attorney and post-bereavemnt help and support.

As well as being entertaining, the play is educational and informative and aims to raise awareness of the issues, especially concerning life beyond loss. The performance will therefore be followed by a discussion by an invited panel of guests plus a Q&A with the audience which is an integral part of the event.

Lynsey Lawson, Compassionate Communities Team Lead added:
“Our team at St Mary’s has been set up to drive access to hospice services for those groups in our region who, traditionally, haven’t used us or don’t think Hospice care is for people like them. a specific function in reaching the communities who find Hospice care harder to access than others.

“Bringing the excellent play to Barrow, and inviting community leaders to come and enjoy it, will help us reach more people and start to break the taboo around hospice care.”